Folding door sealing arrangement



Nov. 10, 1964 R. w. REYNOLDS FOLDING DOOR SEALING ARRANGEMENT Filed July 8, 1963 ///A I l\ 2 a a m s H w H P. .L A R United States Patent Oflice 3,156,293 Patented Nov. 10, 1964 3,156,293 FOLDING DOOR SEALING ARRANGEMENT Ralph W. Reynolds, Indianapolis, Ind., assignor to Holcomb & Hoke Mfg. Co., Inc., Indianapolis, Ind, a corporation of Indiana Filed July 8, 1963, Ser. No. 293,373 1 Claim. (Cl. 16040) This invention relates generally to folding doors and partitions and more particularly to means providing a sound seal at the junction between the lead post of a folding door and a jamb or a rolling post of an adjoining folding door or partition.

Folding doors and partitions of the accordion type are currently being constructed to retard and absorb sound in order to avoid sound transmission from a room on one side of the door or partition to a room on the other side thereof. The expression partition will be used hereinafter in a generic sense to include doors as Well as partitions or walls.

In order to provide effective sound isolation between a room on one side of the folding partition and a room on the other side thereof, it is necessary not only to have the partition itself constructed for this purpose, but it is usually necessary or desirable to have sweep strips along the lower margins of the partition and baffles or other devices along the upper margins. It is also necessary to provide a seal between the movable lead post of the partition and the jamb where there is a single movable partition, and between the lead or rolling posts of two adjoining movable partition sections where both are movable.

Means have been devised for providing a seal between the lead post and jamb post and have employed a resilient seal in one or the other of the posts in abutting engagement with the other post. However, it is common practice to suspend folding partitions and to provide only one latching device between the lead post and jamb post. Consequently, the use of the aforementioned type of sealing device permits a failure of sealing over considerable distances as a result of various causes including misalignment of the mating members which may result either from the suspension, the installation, or carelessness of the user of the door. In any case, the chances of discontinuous sealing are substantial and are increased Where two movable partitions are brought together.

It is, therefore, a general object of the present invention to provide improved sealing means for folding-doors or partitions.

A further object is to provide a sealing arrangement for folding partitions which assures reliable sealing throughout the entire height of the connection between a lead post and a jamb or a rolling post.

A still further object is to provide a sealing device which assures reliable sealing over the entire extent of the junction without any special attention on the part of the user and which can compensate for misalignment resulting from installation characteristics as well as other causes.

A still further object is to provide sealing means which can be readily incorporated with lead post-s and/ or jarn'bs manufactured according to well known and practical manufacturing processes.

A still further object is to provide a sealing arrangement which lends itself to the employment of a multiplicity of individual seal strips if desired. 7 Z

A further object is to provide a sealing arrangement which can be manufactured and installed at a comparatively low cost.

Described briefly, a typical embodiment of the present invention, as employed in the junction of a lead post and jamb post, incorporates an elongated sealing strip extending the entire height of the lead post and extending inwardly from a vertically extending side flange thereof. An identical strip is provided extending inwardly from another side flange of the lead post. These strips are flexible and the edges thereof engage opposite faces of a janrb post throughout the entire height of the jamb post. The direction of the force of the sealing strip on the jamb post is transverse to the direction of most rigidity of the strip. Consequently, the sealing strip can conform readily to irregularities in the jamb post itself if any exist, and can compensate for misalignment, if any, between the jamb and the lead post.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claim.

FIG. 1 is a frontal view of a building wall having an opening therein with folding partition or door therein.

FIG. 2 is a section through the closed junction between the movable partition sections and is taken along the line 22 in FIG. 1 and viewed in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 3 is a section similar to FIG. 2 and illustrating a condition when the partition sections are being separated and folded.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary'section showing an embodiment incorporating four sealing strips rather than two.

Referring to the drawings in detail, a permanent building wall 11 has an opening 12 therein which is closed by the co-operation of an accordion-type folding partition 13 and an accordion-type folding partition 14.

Examples of partition constructions which can be used are shown in Hoke et al. US. Patent 2,649,150 and in Reynolds US. Patent 2,915,115, though other construction can also be used. A handle 16 is provided to operate the partition 13 and a handle 17 is provided to operate the partition 14. Each of the partitions can be folded toward its respective door jarnb to open the opening 12. For example, the partition 13 may be moved to the jamb 18 and the partition 17 may be moved to the jamb 19. The partitions are normally suspended from rails secured to the wall 11 adjacent the upper marginal edge of the opening 12. Where the partitions are intended to prevent sound transmission, they usually incorporate a sweep strip along the lower and upper marginal edges.

The moving vertical margin of a folding partition or door is usually considered to have what is called the lead post thereon. In the illustrated example, both par titions have a moving post, so the moving post 21 on partition 13 will be referred to as the lead post, while the moving post 22 on the partition 14 will be referred to as the rolling post. I

The lead post 21, includes an extruded section of aluminum or other suitable material, for example, which has a base portion 23 extending the vertical height of the partition. Side flanges or extension portions 24 and 26 extend from the lateral margins of the base portion and diverge slightly as shown. These side flanges are identical. The side flanges have a plurality of ribs 27 thereon which are for decorative purposes. The combination of the side flanges and the base portion provides a channel 28 extending the height of the partition to receive the rolling post 22.

The rolling post 22 includes an extruded aluminum section, for example, having the central portion 29, from the lateral margins of which the side portions 31 and 32 diverge. Three grooves 33 are shown in the outer surface of each side portion and these grooves are for decorative purposes. They extend for the entire height of the rolling post, being readily attainable in the extrusion process by which the lead posts and rolling'posts are nor mally manufactured. Suitable grooves 34 extending the entire height of the base portion of the lead post may be employed, if desired, and corresponding ribs 36 on the rolling post can be provided if desired. The folding fabric or cover material for partition section 13 is indicated by reference numeral 13a, the vertical marginal edge portions thereof being sandwiched between the aluminum extrusion and the steel tube 13b of rectangular cross section. The extrusion and tube may be secured together by screws or other suitable means (not shown). The tube 13b may be connected to the remaining partition structure as shown in the aforementioned patents, for example. Similarly, the fabric or exterior covering material for section 14 is indicated by reference numeral 140.

According to the present invention, a T-shaped groove 38 is provided in flange 24 and an identical T-shaped groove 39 is provided in flange 26. A sealing member 41 is provided and incorporates a generally T-shaped cross section as viewed in FIG. 3 with the head strip 42 thereof disposed in the channel 38 and the lip or shank 43 thereof engaging the outer surface of wall portion 31 of the rolling post. It happens that in the illustrated embodiment, the engagement of the wall portion is in one of the grooves 33. However, this is not necessary. An identical seal 44 is provided in the groove 39 and engages the other wall surface of the rolling post.

Each of these seals extends the entire height of the lead post and rolling post. The seals have a thin cross section in the direction of relative motion between the lead post and rolling post, this direction being indicated by the double headed arrow 46. Consequently, they can be readily deformed to the position shown in FIG. 2 when the inside faces of the side flanges 24 and 26 are brought in side-by-side horizontally spaced relation to the outer surfaces of wall portions 31 and 32 as the lead post and rolling post are brought together. Moreover, because of this ready deformation, they are able to conform to any misalignment between the lead post and rolling post over the entire height of these two parts. This is particularly true in the case where the material used is one such as vinyl. Therefore, if the correct relation between the base 23 of the lead post and the central portion 29 of the rolling post as shown in FIG. 2, prevails at some place along the junction of the partitions but there is a gap between them at the bottom of the junction or at some intermediate location, there will nevertheless be an adequate seal between the two members over the entire height thereof to maintain the sound isolation between the room on one side of the partition and the room on the other side of the partition.

FIG. 4 shows one-half of a four seal junction in which the extrusions are identical to those of FIGS. 1-3. FIG. 4 shows post 22 secured to a permanent door jamb 45, rather than to partition 14. An additional seal 46 is disposed in the T-shaped groove 47. Likewise, a fourth seal (not shown) is disposed in the groove in the other side flange (not shown). This arrangement gives an extra dead air space on each side of the junction of the lead post and jamb post or rolling post, thereby providing additional sound isolation. It can also accommodate extraordinary misalignment of the lead post, jamb post, or rolling post and is, therefore, particularly well suited to employment at the junction of two large partitions.

Therefore, it is seen that while the single seal on each side of the junction is normally quite adequate, the present invention provides for additional sealing members to accommodate extraordinary circumstances. By providing the additional two grooves in the extrusions, standardseal construction.

It should be noted that the present invention works quite effectively regardless of whether there are grooves or other depressions provided in the surfaces against which the seals engage such as the wall portions of the rolling post.

While the invention has been disclosed and described in some detail in the drawings and foregoing description, they are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, as other modifications may readily suggest themselves to persons skilled in this art and within the broad scope of the invention, reference being had to the appended claim.

The invention claimed is:

A folding partition seal arrangement comprising: a first vertically extending post member having a vertically extending rigid base portion with a pair of vertically extending side flanges having inner surfaces lying in planes convergent to an intersection in a vertical line, each of said side flanges being joined along one marginal edge thereof to one marginal edge of said base portion, and each of said side flanges having a second marginal edge parallel to said one marginal edge thereof, with a vertically extending slot provided on the inner surface of each of said side flanges and horizontally spaced from said marginal edges thereof, said slots having a T-shaped cross section; a second vertically extending post member including a vertically extending central portion with a pair of vertically extending side portions lying in plane convergent to an intersection in a vertical line, each of said side portions having a vertical marginal edge joining a lateral marginal edge of said central portion, and each of said side portions having a pair of horizontally spaced vertically extending grooves therein, said grooves being horizontally spaced from the marginal edge of the said side portion in which the grooves are provided, folding partition structure attached to each of said post members, said post members being relatively movable horizontally to and away from a closed condition where said flange inner surfaces are in horizontally spaced facing relation to said side portions; and first and second ver- 'ea1ly extending seals of homogeneous material, each having a generally T-shaped cross section with the head portion of the T disposed in one of said T-shaped slots, with each of said seals having its shank normally projecting perpendicular to the inner surface of the flange and terminating at a free marginal edge, when said members are away from said closed condition, the shanks of said eals being fiexed horizontally during relative movement of said post members to said closed condition whereupon the free marginal edges slide along said side portions during closure, and said free edges enter into said grooves in said side portions of said second post member and make sealing contact therewith throughout the vertical extent of said seals to thereby provide isolation between a space on one side of said partition structure and a space on the other side of said partition structure when said members are in closed condition.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,915,115 12/59 Reynolds -40 X 2,917,792 12/59 Franzblau et al. 189-65 X 3,029,481 4/62 Henniges 20-69 3,082,817 3/63 Merrill l6040 3,104,699 9/ 63 Wolf et al 160-40 HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner. 

